Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Chunghwa Telecom conference call for the company's fourth quarter 2022 operating results. During the presentation, all lines will be on listen only mode. When the briefing is finished, directions for submitting your questions will be given in the question and answer session. For your information, this conference call is now being broadcasted live over the Internet. Webcast replay will be available within an hour after the conference is finished. Please visit CHT IR website www.cht.com.tw/ir under the IR calendar section. Now I would like to turn it over to Ms. Angela Tsai, the Director of Investor Relations. Ms. Tsai, please go ahead.
Thank you. This is Angela Tsai, Director of Investor Relations for Chunghwa Telecom. Welcome to our fourth quarter 2022 result conference call. Joining me on the call today are Harrison Kuo, our President, and Vincent Chen, our Chief Financial Officer. During today's call, management will begin by providing an overview of our business in the fourth quarter, followed by a discussion of our segment performance and the financial highlights. After, we will move on to the question and answer portion of the call. I'll try to raise my topic statements. Now I'll turn the call over to President Kuo. President Kuo, please go ahead.
Thank you, Angela. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our fourth quarter results conference call. To begin with, we would like to send our best wishes to our peers as their merger plans were approved by the NCC in January. We believe the resulting change of the market landscape is positive to the telecom industry in Taiwan. The health of the market development could strengthen the overall 5G adoption in Taiwan, could consistently maintain its stable growth. Under the new landscape, we will continue our focus on building ecosystems and creating long term value for customers. As the market leader, in terms of network quality, service quality, and subscriber number in Taiwan, we are confident in remaining ahead of our peers in all these aspects going forward. Let's turn to page four for an update on our performance in the fourth quarter.
In the first quarter, our mobile revenue share and subscriber share climbed to 39.5% and 36.6% respectively, achieving another solid period of growth on both a year-over-year and a quarter-over-quarter basis. In addition, the year-over-year increase of both revenue share and subscriber share also progressed into the sixth consecutive quarter, affirming our strong leading position in Taiwan's mobile market, sustained by our notable growth momentum. Please turn to slide five for a closer look and at our mobile business. In the first quarter, our total mobile service revenue was up by 5.8% year-over-year, maintaining its year-over-year growth for 20 consecutive months, attributable to the upsell resulting from 5G migration and the outperforming subscriber number increase.
As our penetration status progressed, we observed an average 41% uplift in mobile ARPU, attributable to consumers who migrate from 4G to 5G. We are delighted to see the increase of roaming revenue and the prepaid revenue during the quarter. We recognize that cross-border activities also contributed to the increase of prepaid subscriber numbers. Together with strong growth of post-paid subscriber numbers, as well as the lowest churn rate among our peers, our total mobile subscriber numbers, including IoT SIMs, increased by 3.5% year-over-year. In general, our post-paid ARPU achieved 3.3% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter, maintaining its upward trajectory for the seventh consecutive quarter.
We are also delighted to report that both Speedtest and OpenSignal acknowledged us as the fastest 5G service provider in Taiwan recently. We are proud of the results, and we'll continue to provide first class 5G network quality for customers to drive up 5G migration. Moving on to slide six. You may find an update of our fixed broadband business. In the fourth quarter, our fixed broadband revenue increased by 3.7% year-over-year, and the subscriber numbers continued to grow as well. In addition, the accumulated sign-up for service speed of 300 Mbps or higher increased by 51.9% year-over-year, mainly thanks to our promoting strategy, which effectively accelerated our subscribers migration to higher service speed.
By 2022, we were excited to see more than 70% of the package adopters upgraded their service speed, while more than 60% of the adopters signed up for service speed of 500 Mbps or higher. Our fixed broadband pool therefore achieved 2.1% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter, maintaining its upward trend for 13 consecutive quarters. In 2023, we will continue the momentum by rolling out another promotion strategy, and further strengthen the incentives by lifting the upstream speed that pair with 300 Mbps service from 100 megabits per second to 150 Mbps , distinguishing us from our peers. Now, let's move on to the performance of our customer-centric business group. Slide eight presents the revenue of our consumer business group or CBG.
In the fourth quarter, total revenue of CBG decreased by 2.1% year-over-year, in spite of the strong growth of our core business. Mobile service revenue grew by 71.0% year-over-year, propelled by the increase of post-paid subscriber numbers and the steady 5G migration. While fixed voice revenue continues to decline as expected, our total fixed-line service revenue of CBG still gained a slight year-over-year increase, thanks to the successful upsell propelled by the speed upgrade promotion strategy, as well as the FIFA World Cup broadband broadcast and the campaign in November. Sales revenue decreased by 12% year-over-year, mainly due to the continued unstable iPhone supply during the quarter. Other revenue also decreased by 34.9% year-over-year, owing to the higher base resulting from the government subsidies for accelerated 5G construction in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Slide nine further illustrates our Consumer Business Group highlights. In the fourth quarter, our multiple play strategy continued to support the growth momentum of our CBG business. The subscriber numbers of mobile, fixed broadband, and Wi-Fi services all together demonstrated a 28% year-over-year growth. In particular, our home Wi-Fi device subscription number grew more than 1.5 times on a year-over-year basis, boosting our subscription-based revenue and sustaining the popularity of home-centric applications. The number of our video subscription that comprise of MOD and Hami Video, which are paid in monthly fees on an annual basis rather than one time sign-up, grew by 8.9% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. This growth mainly driven by Hami Video. Thanks to the popular FIFA World Cup taking place in November.
We were also delighted to see the related advertising revenue was five times more than that of the last FIFA World Cup held four years ago, demonstrating our success in presenting popular content to customers. Heading into towards 2023, we will continue the content investment strategy with a focus on sports events and the exclusive dramas to further enhance overall subscriber stickiness and contribution. Please turn to slide 10 for an overview on our Enterprise Business Group performance. In the fourth quarter, EBG maintained its growth trajectory by demonstrating 2.9% revenue increase on a year-over-year basis, mainly attributable to the growth of our ICT business, particularly in ICT, cybersecurity, 5G private networks, and big data services. Our EBG mobile service revenue increased by 3.3% driven by 5G upselling and the increase of customers.
Other revenue also increased by 46.8% year-over-year, mainly due to the equipment sales revenue from subsidiaries. Additionally, we see the digital transformation trend and its opportunities continue to drive our data communication and the broadband access revenue to grow by 5.4% year-over-year, especially the speed upgrade demand from enterprise and the scores. Although fixed-line revenue checked flat year-over-year in the fourth quarter, attracted by the decreased voice revenue. Slide 11 illustrates our enterprise business highlights. In the fourth quarter, our total enterprise emerging applications revenue increased by 8.8% year-over-year, as most of our major applications demonstrated a double-digits year-over-year growth rate. 5G private network revenue delivered a multiple board growth, mainly due to the increased accumulated projects that bring in recurring revenues.
In addition, we are evolving the 5G private network business model by providing leasing arrangements for enterprise to yield recurring revenue. We were delighted to report that the 5G private network leasing arrangement gained popularity in the PCB industry in the first quarter, as is expected to extend to other verticals going forward. For ICT, big data, and cybersecurity services, we are delighted to see year-over-year revenue growth by 45%, 37%, and 17% respectively, owing to the increased demand of digital transformation and opportunities. In the fourth quarter, we successfully leveraged our big data analysis, information security, and blockchain technologies to deliver integrated solutions for the insurance industry.
In addition to the big data platform tailored made for insurance regulatory oversight, we also helped the industry to consolidate accounts across different insurance companies, owing by the same policyholder to streamline reimbursement process. Slide 12 illustrates our international business performance. In the fourth quarter, our international business group revenue decreased by 7.1% year-over-year, mainly due to the higher base of other revenue recognized in the fourth quarter of 2021 related to ST-2 compensation. Excluding the non-recurring impact, IBG revenue in the fourth quarter maintained its growth momentum and increased by 19.7% year-over-year, mainly driven by emerging business revenue and the fixed program revenue due to strong demand for ICT and the cloud services from global clients.
In December, our technical support center in Malaysia has officially started operations to fully support business expansion in our Pacific market. Now I would like to turn the call to Vincent for our financial highlights.
Thank you, Harrison Kuo. Good afternoon, everyone. I will now walk you through our fourth quarter financial results. Let's start with slide 14, income statement highlights. For the fourth quarter of 2022, our revenue generated from our core business increased by 2.3%. Total revenue decreased by 0.7% on a year-over-year basis, mainly attributable to decreased sales revenues resulting from the shortage of handsets. Net income decreased by 2.2%, primarily due to sales decline and the grant of government subsidies for the acceleration of 5G deployments in Q4 of 2021. Meanwhile, our EBITDA margin increased to 35.05% from 34.82%. For the full year results, we were glad to see total revenue increased by 3% compared to 2021, driving by growing core business, including mobile, ICT, and broadband services.
Income from operations and net income grew by 4.2% and 2.1% year-over-year, respectively, mainly due to our robust core business and growing ICT business. EBITDA margin rose from 39.59% to 39.8%. Move on to page 15 for balance sheet highlights. Total assets at the end of 2022 increased by 2.1% year-over-year, mainly driven by increase in cash and cash equivalents as a result of cash proceeds from issuance of sustainable bonds, as well as decreased negotiable certificates of deposit. Total liabilities increased by 6.5%, primarily attributed this to increase of bonds payable on earned revenues and deferred government grant income. Our balance sheet remains strong in that ratio stays below 25% and net debt over EBITDA is 0.
Page 16 will pre-present the summary of our cash flows. Cash flows from operating activities increased by 1.4% on year, mainly due to higher net income arising from our strong operating performance. As for capital expenditure, the amount of mobile and non-mobile CapEx combined decreased by 10.7% on year, of which mobile-related CapEx was reduced by about 18% year-over-year, as 5G capital spending was peaked in 2021. Additionally, relative to 2021, free cash flows increased by 12.4%. Overall, our robust cash flows together with strong balance sheet enable us to steer through economic uncertainty and focus on long-term value creation. On slide 17, we provide a table that compares our financial results with our financial guidance.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, key performance measures, such as revenue, net income, and EBITDA, meet or beat our financial forecast. On full year results, all performance measures exceeded our guidance, with operating income and net income beating our projections by a modest margin. Moving to slide 18, please see our guidance for 2023. Looking ahead, total revenue for 2023 compared to 2022 is expected to increase by between 2.1% and 2.8%, primarily driven by growth momentum in our core business, draft benefits from 5G migration, and broadband upgrades. ICT business also contribute as we expect growing emerging services to meet customers' demands for digital transformation and its opportunities.
Operating costs and expenses for 2022 are expected to rise by 4% as a result of the investments in talents and infrastructures that supports future business development in core and emerging businesses. Given these projections, we expect our EPS to be in the range between 4.35 and 4.65. As for capital spending, we budget TWD 35.32 billion for 2023. Mobile-related CapEx accounts for 1/3 and represents an expected decrease of about 13% on year. Non-mobile related CapEx, which comprise of investments in fixed line network, IDC, and submarine cables, is expected to increase by 32% on year to support business expansion in emerging business. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Harrison Kuo for our awards and recognitions.
Thank you, Vincent. We have always considered our ESG while operating our business. The next page demonstrates our ESG efforts. Our ESG efforts have been widely recognized by both domestic and international organizations and the rating agencies such as Dow Jones of S&P Global, FTSE, and the MSCI.
To further extend our influence in the fourth quarter, we launched the Green ICT supply chain, a joint trend with 35 key suppliers to move forward net zero emissions. We also partnered with KIPP Inspire School Taiwan to reach out to cities that have a relative lack of teaching resources to help facilitate online learning. We believe these new developments are key to our success and the long-term growth. We will continue to focus on ESG development going forward. This concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you for your attention. At this time, I would like to open up our conference call for questions.
Thank you, President Kuo. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin our question and answer session. If you have a question for any of today's speakers, please press star one on your telephone keypad, you are in 30 queue. After you are announced, please ask your question. When you are speaking, please be louder or closer to the microphone. If you find that your question has been answered before it is your turn to speak, please press star two to cancel the question. Thank you. Now, please press star one to ask the question. Thank you. Our first question is coming from Neale Anderson of HSBC. Go ahead, please.
Thank you. Good afternoon. I have two questions, please. They're both on the mobile side of the business. You mentioned that you're pleased with the recovery in roaming and prepaid. Is it possible for you to quantify the contribution that made and if you expect that to continue to increase through 2023? The second question relates to 5G. Obviously, a large number of customers have now moved to 5G tariffs. What level of revenue growth do you expect this year on the 5G side? Also, what level of contribution do you expect from some of the new corporate services you mentioned, such as the 5G private networks? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, Neale, for your questions. For the first question about prepay, right? Basically, we don't provide the numbers on our prepaid in terms of revenue or subscriber space. With the border reopening, we will expect the growth in revenue and subscription will grow in prepaid subscribers. Basically, we are quite positive because we have seen there is a huge demand for overseas travels, we will also roll out the packages to our customers, not only the outgoing, but also the incoming travelers. For your second question about 5G, right? Basically, this year, last year, we were pleased about our performance from our mobile business.
For the not only for the revenue, total revenue growth in mobile business, but also the uplift from the 5G migrations. We don't disclose openly about our internal data. We're still quite optimistic. I believe in terms of the progress of our 5G penetration rate, actually the market has been developed in a positive and steady manner. We believe that will contribute to our revenue modestly.
Got it. Thank you. Could I just follow up on the roaming side? I understand you don't disclose the exact numbers, but in the fourth quarter, was it pretty much back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of roaming service revenue?
Actually, not in a pre-pandemic level yet. Yeah. We expect, we'll recover about like 70%-80%, yeah, of this year. Yeah.
Got it. Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. As a reminder, please press star one on your keypad if you would like to ask the question. The next question is from Sarah Wang of UBS. Go ahead, please.
Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. I have two questions. First is that, how is the margin of the enterprise ICT business? My second question is that, I understand the ICT or enterprise business still requires investment, we do see increase in OpEx and CapEx into 2023. Any timeline or expectation for the ICT business to be earnings accretive or, how shall we think about EBITDA and net margin going forward? Thank you.
Okay. For the margin for the enterprise business, right? It's about, I think it's, yeah, it's about 20% or so. Yeah. It depends on the individual projects. It's about that level. Yeah. What's encouraging is actually our ICT profit margin has gone up from last year. Also for the timeline for us to provide the margin and EBITDA numbers, right? We will provide it starting from 1st quarter next year. This year, yes. 2022.
Got it. The 20% margin was, gross margin, right?
Yeah. We only provided the net margin. Yeah, not the income margin. Yeah, not the gross margin.
I just want to confirm. The 20% number is net margin for enterprise ICT business?
Okay. For the enterprise, right? The net margin is about 20%. That's the information we can currently discuss for now.
I see. Thank you.
Thank you. We are now in question and answer session. If you would like to ask the question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Thank you. Now, as a reminder, please press star 1 on your keypad if you would like to ask the question. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now in question and answer session. If you would like to ask the question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Thank you. Next, we'll have Neil Hilton of HSBC for questions. Go ahead please, Neil.
Thank you. I'd follow up on the supply chain and some of the delays. You mentioned that the handset revenue was down a little bit due to weaker handset supplies, and I think some of the CapEx was also deferred into this year. Do you have... Is that improving? How much visibility do you have on that? Do you expect to see continued issues this year, or can you see that improving? Thank you.
Basically the supply chain interruption issue has been relieved recently. To the extent of whether how soon or, you know, to what extent it will goes back to the normal level, we are still unsure. Yeah. It depends on the producer.
I see. Thank you.
Thank you. If you would like to ask the question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We are now in question and answer session. Please press star one on your keypad if you would like to ask the question. Thank you. If there are no further questions, I'll turn it back over to Harrison Kuo. Please proceed. Thank you.
Thank you for your participation. Goodbye, everyone.
Thank you, Harrison Kuo. We thank you for your participation in Chunghwa Telecom's conference. There will be a webca st replay within an hour. Please visit www.cht.com.tw/ir under the IR Calendar section. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.